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Should I start investing before or after university?

I’m starting university next autumn. Should I get into investing now or wait until after uni when I’ve got rid of my debts etc?
Reply 1
Avatar for NX172
NX172
17
If by Debts, you mean student loans, I wouldn't worry about those. It'll be slowly paid off each month anyway. If it's credit cards and the amount isn't much, then pay them off first otherwise you'll likely be paying more in interest than what you receive in returns (as a percentage). If it's a lot of debt you'll need to slowly chip at it, but it's best to move the debt to a 0% interest free card for now and shift it to another when it expires, making minimum payment plus whatever you can afford to repay. It's generally good practice to abolish debts before making investments.

Whether or not you should invest depends on how much you have to invest. Everything works on percentages and if you've little capital and need it to live on / use as rainy day money then simply keep it in an easy access account, such as a savings account or flexible ISA. If you have a decent amount for a student, say £10k+, then consider using something simple like nutmeg to put it in an investment ISA and beat inflation / cost of your student loan interest. Investments are best left alone for a few years to not only make them more lucrative but to mitigate risk. Investments work better the more time you give them, so yes, start as soon as you can afford to (clear immediate debts and build up some emergency funds first).
(edited 6 years ago)
Reply 2
Avatar for ebam_uk
ebam_uk
20
Original post by Thomazo
I’m starting university next autumn. Should I get into investing now or wait until after uni when I’ve got rid of my debts etc?


Start investing now, look at it as a learning curve as after uni, you will know more about investing... also you might be able to pay a lot of your future or potential debts with investment income which means you are better off financially.
Even if you look at something like a Stocks and Shares ISA, which can also be done with a Robo-Advisor you can just put a small amount aside each month, and that will make a huge difference going forward!

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